Sharpening perceptions of reality and providing spiritual guidance for those in the crux of wilderness experiences. Substantial spiritual nourishment for those who know or sense that Christ is anything but shallow. Encouraging readers to radically (which to Christ is normal) serve God and others.
The author is teaching herself and others to read the world through the lens of the gospel and to become active participants in the local and worldwide body of Christ.

Oct 25, 2009

Your Kerith Ravine

In I Kings 17, Elijah the prophet tells Ahab that there will be a famine in the land and that it won't rain again until Elijah says so. Immediately following his proclamation, the Lord sends Elijah into hiding in the Kerith Ravine. There the Lord sends ravens to feed him and has Elijah camp by a brook where he can drink water. When the brook drys up, the Lord sends Elijah to the house of the widow in Zerapeth.

Perhaps you feel as if you're in a spiritual dry place, like there is a famine in your soul. You believe in God and trust him, but there is nothing--you sense nothing. You worry that you won't be provided for, that your soul and your life will wither. All your attempts to help yourself have been in vain. You are exasperated. You fear that you'll fall into despair.

Tonight, it is close to 12:30 a.m. as I write, I want to encourage you to cease striving. Do the next thing in front of you. If you can read Scripture wonderful, but if you cannot even do that, if you cannot even pray--allow God to minister to you as he did to Elijah. He will feed you through friends, speak to you through creation, and in many and often unforeseen ways, he will provide for you. He will meet your needs.

Elijah didn't really do anything in the Kerith Ravine. He just rested. And that is what you need to do right now. Cease striving. Perhaps the most godly thing you could do right now for yourself and those around you is get rest. Take naps.

If your life and circumstance allow, participate in holy leisure. Allow God himself to minister to you.

Gracious Christians Unite!

Marlena's Words in Other Places ~ click on the links

Read Old Books. They Expand Our Souls.

One excellent way to see how much our culture's passing weather patterns have influenced us is to read old books. If you recieve all your information from contemporary writers, Christian or secular, you will never perceive whole concepts that people in other generations could see. (For example, earlier generations of Christians perceived a power in sexual purity that eludes us completely; we can only fall back on "don'ts"). Every Christian should always have at his bedside at least one book that is at least fifty years old--the older the better.

"To be commanded to love God at all, let alone in the wilderness, is like being commanded to be well when we are sick, to sing for joy when we are dying of thirst, to run when our legs are broken. But this is the first and great commandment nonetheless. Even in the wilderness - especially in the wilderness - you shall love him." —Frederick Buechner

Las Lajas Cathedral

About Me

In seminary, my pastor friends dubbed me a modern-day Christian mystic, a contemplative. I've been called to preach through the pen (or keyboard as technology has it). I've accepted my gifts and hope to nourish readers with the nourishment I've received. I'm married to my soulmate,Shawn. He's a philosophy professor. And I graduated from Northeastern Seminary (a truly great place) with an M.Div. and gave birth to a beautiful human being, my daughter Iliana, almost within the same week. I am a regular contributing writer for Christianity Today's Her.meneutics Blog and a proud member of the Redbud Writers Guild. If you are nourished by what you read, please pass it along to another wilderness traveler.